Months after fleeing war-torn Ukraine, Adrian Hokcha Djiele and his family have finally arrived in Ottawa.
“it’s crazy, it’s just crazy, thank you,” said Djiele, who along with his wife Alina Khoksha Dzhiel, six-year-old daughter Sabrina and one-year-old son Christopher, fled Kherson, ukraine after war broke out in late february.
The family took a 20-hour journey that took them to Odessa to Lviv to the Slovakian border. They eventually ended in Paris, France where they embarked on the process to come to Canada, leaving behind their home and life they built together in the last 10 years.
“it was difficult. Very very difficult,” Djiele said. “I just wanted to be safe with my family.”
Adding to that difficulty, the Cameroonian national says he faced discrimination at the borders.
“On the border black men couldn’t go out firstly, they were treated after all border people,” explained the 31-year-old. When they finally made it to Paris, the family faced another obstacle. Djiele was given one month to stay before facing deportation. His wife - a Ukrainian national - and his Ukrainian-born children were given more time.
“I can’t understand how you think it’s okay to seperate a family,” said Gwen Madiba, the executive director of Global Black Coalition, who welcomed the family in Paris. "He was threatened with deportation and we really had to act fast.”
Madiba and other members based in Ottawa rallied quickly, arranging for the family to come to the nation’s capital. In a matter of days they found a house and prepared for their arrival. This act of kindness leaving the family filled with emotion.
“I was very, very happy,” Dzhiel said. “it’s like a gift from god.”
Exhausted from their long journey, the family is slowly settling in eager to rebuild their life here in ottawa.
“I know it’s not enough but from my heart, thank you,” said Djiele.
